Ennai Kathirikaai Kuzhambu

Ennai Kathirikaai Kuzhambu, This curry means a lot of meaning to me, regular readers may know i LOVE brinjals for no reason. I have so many curry varieties with brinjal in this page, this “Ennai Kathirikaai kuzhambu” is quite vey special and important to note, there is no onion, no garlic, and no tomatoes

Once my SIL said she was in search for no garlic indian gravy to pair with rice for a kitty party. I really had so many question how a curry with out garlic smells good, but when i made without garlic, onion and tomato this is a double booster for the thought.

Since this curry is loaded with so many fried dhal’s the aroma of the curry stays for a long. Richness and thickness of the gravy is from the fried dhal’s. I heard this recipe from my neighbour, who literally follows her family recipes.

The way she narrate the recipe makes me to try over this recipe, earlier I had a semi dry version of Ennai kathirikaai recipe with Onion, tomato and garlic, that was a yummy post and most liked one in our family to check the recipe click on the link.

This version of Ennai Kathirikaai kuzhambu is absolute tempting for a South Indian. Hope this Post helps you to learn this version of Ennai kathiriakkai Kuzhambu.

Step by Step Picture Instruction

Start making the masala powder, Heat up a pan with a tsp of oil, add in the hing piece, Coriander seeds, dried red chilli

Black splitted urad dhal, Channa dhal, Toor dhal

Fry them in low medium flame till they turns golden brown in colour.

Cool the content to room temperature and powder them in mixer

Add 1/2 tsp of salt to the grounded masala

Mix them well

Stuff the masala to the slitted Brinjal/Kathirikaai, Reserve the leftover masala for the gravy part.

In the mean while soak the Tamarind ball in some hot water, Squeeze, staring and reserve the tamarind water.

Heat the pan with oil, fry the stuffed brinjal’s/Kathirikaai in medium high flame

Flip and cook all the sides of the brinjal/Kathirikaai

Remove them from the oil and set aside.

Again heat the pan with oil, add mustard for tempering.

Add in the dried red chilli, curry leaves

Add the squeezed tamarind water, Allow the tamarind water to roll and boil.

Add in the red chilli powder, turmeric powder

Add the Reserved grounded masala, simmer for few minutes adjust salt and chilli powder in this step.

Once the gravy starts to thicken add in the Fried brinjal and simmer again for few more minutes, no need to stir often that may tend to break the brinjals.

Heat a pan with 1 tsp of oil, add a piece of hing/Perunkaayam, Coriander seeds, Dried Red chilli, Black splitted urad dhal, Channa dhal, toor dhal, roast them in medium flame, once the dhal are fried remove the content form the heat, bring this fried content to room temperature and powder them in mixer. Add 1/2 tsp of salt to the powder, mix them well and set aside.

Wash and clean the Baby brinjal’s/Kathirikaai, From the back side of the brinjal/kathirikaai slit them into four pieces, make sure not to split them separately.(Check picture instruction for more detail) Stuff the grounded masala to the baby brinjal’s/Kathirikaai, you will have some more masala reserve them to add in the gravy part.

Let the brinjal’s/Kathirikaai sit aside for 20 mins, In the mean while Soak the tamarind in hot water, squeeze the tamarind essence and set aside.

Heat a pan with oil fry the brinjal’s/kathirikaai in medium high flame, flip and cook all the side’s of the brinjal/kathirikaai, once they done drain out from the oil and set aside.

In the same pan add mustard seeds, curry leaves, dried red chillies, and sauté them for a while, add in the tamarind water, chilli powder, turmeric powder and grounded masala powder, when the gravy gets boiled well, add in the fried brinjal’s/kathirikaai to the gravy, simmer for few more minutes.

Add a pinch of jaggery to the gravy and switch off the flame.

Notes

If you want more spice in the gravy add some more chilli powder.

This is a no onion, no tomato and no garlic kuzhambu, you can add onion, tomato and garlic while frying in the oil itself.

The Aroma of black splitted urad dhal is very special in this gravy, if you want to substitute with white urad dhal also you can make.